Lady Macbeth Short Story

Lady Macbeth recoiled in fear, fear which knotted her stomach and caught her voice in her throat. Her gaunt face was a mask of pure dismay. “Oh cruel death, are you finally here to claim me? Has my time on this cursed throne ended already? I see now, deceiving death that you are neither an angel, nor a spirit.

Macbeth experiences visions and hallucinations that make him regret the things he did. One vision he has is,

In regard to evil, in many ways Macbeth and Lady Macbeth remain “exactly in tune with one another” throughout the play (Chapman 151). Both of them do not want to wait for the future and hastily attempt to

Those who are weak often manipulate others to do the things they cannot. Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth describes two characters’ desire for power, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Throughout the play, Lady Macbeth displays many facets to her personality. She is such a diverse and complicated character that it is hard to know if she is truly evil or weak. However, no matter how strong and evil Lady Macbeth appears to be to others, her weakness is clearly apparent when she is alone.

Like men, she has the trait to be gruesome and diabolical in nature. She has determined for herself the course to be pursued and nothing can hinder her. She does not need the prophecy of the witches to urge her. She is aware of her strength and she is resolute in her aim. Knowing Macbeth’s weakness,

When Duncan arrives at Macbeth’s castle, Lady Macbeth’s fake attitude towards the king resemble the prophecies of Macbeth’s are corrupting her also. Macbeth wants to kill Duncan, but still feels loyalty to his king and friend as “his kinsman and his subject (I.vii.13).” A deadly illusion is created, “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle towards my hand? Come, let me clutch thee (II.ii.32-33)” to make sure he does not move away from his ambition of becoming king. Macbeth, under the urgings of his wife, murders Duncan in the dead of night, blaming Duncan’s two servants.

Moreover, this realization leads Lady Macbeth to think about murdering King Duncan for her and Macbeth to gain power. In addition to Lady Macbeth’s cruel character, she reveals her desirous thoughts towards the crown. Lady Macbeth continues her speech and mentions her unquenching thirst to take Duncan’s power. “Make thick my blood. Stop the access and passage to remorse, that no compunctious visitings of nature shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace with the effect and it!”

As Lady Macbeth continues to hide her “weak” attributes by displaying a stronger shell, she also reveals her sense of ambition. Although Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both seek power, it is obvious that power is what drives Lady Macbeth. From the second she knew about the witches’ prophecies, she made it her goal to become King and Queen. When she creates a plan to murder King Duncan, Macbeth shows he is nervous, Lady Macbeth finds this problematic and asks him to “project a peaceful mood, because if you look troubled, you will arouse suspicion.” (1.5.63-65).

Due to the killings, her guilt began to change her as a person. With the appearance of blood, Lady Macbeth realizes what horror she has created. Blood haunts Lady Macbeth in the worst possible way. Lady Macbeth can not wash the blood from her hands, staining permanent guilt. “Out, damned spot!...

Lady macbeth has gone crazy just like her husband. She can not become at peace. She can not sleep because Macbeth has taken sleep away. As lady macbeth sleep walks she has dreams of the murders that have occurred. Her guilt is dormant and expressed through these dreams.

This contrast immediately gives the reader an insight into the torment that guilt and regret can cause. There is a clear definition between Lady Macbeth before and after the murder of King Duncan. This character change emphasizes greatly the theme of the impacts upon a person due to the unnatural acts they have performed. In Lady Macbeth’s case the impact was guilt and regret both of which tormented her to point of serious mental illness, insomnia and ultimately a self induced demise. The author 's intention in bringing a once strong and evil character to the mercy of their own morality is to educate readers upon the impacts that guilt could have upon their own life if they were to perform the unnatural just as Lady Macbeth did.

Lady Macbeth’s portrayal beings with the powerful elements of her ambitious and successful plotting of Duncan’s demise, effective, rhetorical manipulation of her husband to “be a man” and to take action. After the murder, Macbeth slowly loses his mind. “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife!”(3.2) Macbeth is sleepwalking. He has claimed that

Lady Macbeth plays a key part in driving Macbeth’s motivations and encourages Macbeth to overcome his strong sense of guilt and take action on the prophecies. Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth that he is “green” (I.VII.40) and “a coward” (I.VII.46) and that he resembles the proverbial “poor cat”. (I.VII.48) The willingness of Lady Macbeth to reach the epitome of betrayal is displaced that heightens the understanding of the overpowering and strong nature of Lady Macbeth as well as the deep and murderous motivations she wishes to impose on her husband. Shakespeare exposes to the audience to the persuasive and emotive techniques Lady Macbeth uses to manipulate and drive Macbeth's motivations. This

Shakespeare’s tragedy, Macbeth, focuses on the tumultuous events that surround a regicide. Despite being the shortest of Shakespeare’s plays, in his critical study of the play A. C. Bradley concludes that due to its vehement nature the audience is left with an impression “not of brevity but of speed” . The principal female character of Lady Macbeth is arguably one of his most contentious. Consumed with intense passion, ambition and greed she challenges the subservient role of the traditional Elizabethan woman. She has disturbed, horrified and intrigued both contemporary and modern audiences alike through her powerful diction.

These provocative predictions were the prophecies that the witches told, the murder of Duncan, Banquo and Macduff’s entire family. Once being a good man that simply committed evils, he evolved into the figure we associate his name with today as a bloody tale of a tyrant. As a play that has survived through the ages, Macbeth teaches the lesson of not fulfilling ambition through heinous means and that even a good and just man can succumb to his